


The Tale of the Squirrel Family

by orphan_account



Series: Family [2]
Category: Johnny's Entertainment, Sexy Zone
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 17:25:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3737308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meeting Kento had changed Fuma's and Kira's life in more than one way.<br/>-- Sequel to "Family" --</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tale of the Squirrel Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MelodyOfMyHeart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodyOfMyHeart/gifts), [givemeyoursmile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/givemeyoursmile/gifts).



> Hey everyone! So, this is a year late and I had thrown it out a lot of times, but finally decided to finish and post it.
> 
> I feel a little weird, posting something that puts the Kikuchi family in such a bad light after Fuma has talked about how much he loves his family so much lately, but please remember that this is an AU and has nothing to do with real circumstances. The Kikuchi Family is awesome and I would never imply otherwise ;) Regard this as a fictional family, if you will. 
> 
> Thanks to Michelle and Jojo who edged me on with this - it would have stayed in my G-Drive's trash can if not for you guys ;) 
> 
> Also, though this is a sequel, it retells the events of the first story from Fuma's POV. I hope it is not repetitive. I guess there is no need in reading the first fic if you haven't yet, but it's highly recommendable ;)
> 
> Now enough talk. Enjoy ;)

Fuma’s POV

This was just not my day, I thought as I frantically hurried through the shelves of the candy section, trying to find the familiar bush of messy black hair, but there was no sight of Kira anywhere.

It had started when my boss had called me in for work unexpectedly. It was Saturday, and I had promised Kira a day out in the park, but then my phone had rung and my boss had told me about this important customer’s car breaking down, and him desperately needing my help as quickly as possible. It was not that I couldn’t use the bonus - Kira’s class was having a field trip next month, and I was already turning every yen I could find - but more the problem that I had not quite known where to leave the girl in between. 

In the end, my boss’s wife had taken care of her while I had worked, which Kira at least had seemed to approve of (they had 3 cats). Still, it had taken way too long to find the actually simple problem with the engine, and when I had finally been able to pick her up again, it had been way past noon, and too late for a real day out. 

Kira had complained loudly about that, not understanding the need to go grocery shopping instead of going out to play (“We can just eat ice cream!”), continuing to be whiny and difficult no matter how quick I tried to be, and sneaking an impossible amount of sweets into the cart.

“I don’t have money for this, Kira!” I had snapped after a while, feeling my patience running thin. “One more time and there will be no chara bentos for school on Monday!”

Kira had looked at me furiously at that, setting up her best pout, and I had huffed as I had turned to study the rice prices. 

When I had looked over my shoulder again, I had blinked into nothingness. 

“Kira?” I had asked stupidly, looking around, but she had been nowhere to be seen. 

That had been 15 minutes ago, and now here I was, seemingly having run through the whole supermarket without finding my daughter. I cursed. These kind of things could only happen to me. I could almost see the face of my mother in front of my inner eyes.

_“You forget to wear shoes when leaving the house if no one reminds you, how are you supposed to take care of a child?!”_

I took a deep breath, trying hard to keep a calm mind and to gulp down the tears that I could feel burning behind my eyes. She couldn’t be far, I reasoned. Maybe she had gone to the cashiers to search for me. And if not, maybe some of the staff could help me look for her. 

Still, as calm as I tried to be, I could not shrug off the fear that clawed at my heart. What if something had happened? What if she had left the store? What if someone had taken her with them? You never knew what kind of people were lurging around here, in a huge city like Tokyo. 

I was running again when I reached the cashiers, not caring about the people lining up to pay, just pushing through them towards the first staff member available. It was a young girl, maybe even younger than me, probably a part timer, and she looked at me in confusion when I called: “My daughter is missing!”

She eyed the customer in front of her unsurely before turning to me again, asking in slight panic (though I was not sure why _she_ of all people would need to panic): “What?”

“My daughter” I repeated. “She is three years old. Her dress is red and has a big yellow duck printed to the front. Her hair is long and black, and her name is Kira.”

“Have you tried searching for her?” The girl asked, and I had to take a deep breath to not start shouting in response.

“Of course I did! I ran through the whole store!” I responded, but fell quiet when I heard an old women further back in the line complain: “Always these too young parents that can’t take care of their children. Now he’s holding up everyone else because he can’t watch out for his daughter.”

I gulped, but my voice was still shaking slightly as I spoke again.

“I swear, I only looked away for one minute! I searched _everywhere_ , but she isn’t here!”

I felt desperate when the girl only looked around unsurely. Was there nobody here who could help me?!

I froze when I heard a loud call of “DADDY!!!!” I whirled around, my heart almost stopping as I saw Kira running towards me, tears in her eyes, and when I picked her up to pull her into my arms, I tried really hard not to cry as well from the relief. As I hugged her tightly, I took deep breaths to slow my racing heartbeat, aware that people must be staring. 

I only looked up when an unfamiliar voice began talking to me. 

“It seems like she was magically attracted by the squirrel.”

I blinked, looking up into the face of a young guy, supposedly my age, smiling softly and holding up a squirrel plushie. I only stared at him, slightly dazed by the blinding smile, and he waved with the toy childishly before pushing it at me. I took it, a little perplexed as I could not stop staring at him.

“Anyways, I am glad she is back in her Daddy’s hands now” he said, and I noticed how he had a really nice voice, and his eyes were warm as he looked at Kira for a moment before focusing back on me.

He was the first one I had met in the last 30 minutes that had not looked at me like I was a complete failure as a father.

“Thank you for bringing her here” I brought out finally, suddenly realizing how I must be staring at him, and I could feel the blush spread over my cheeks. “That must have seemed like a pretty dramatic scene.”

“It’s okay, really” he laughed, and it lighted up his face nicely. “It’s not like I can let such a cute girl sit on the floor crying.”

I chuckled at that, feeling slightly nervous and giddy at the same time as I introduced myself. His name was Kento, and I was not sure what had come over me, I just knew that I really, really liked his smile, and if possible, I wanted to look at it a little longer, so suddenly I found myself inviting him out for a coffee to thank him for his help. And I honestly felt like it was necessary, because he _had_ brought Kira back safely when everyone else had ignored me, but he still laughed, shaking his head, making me bite my lip in slight disappointment. 

“No need, really” he said, though he seemed a little hesitant as he added. “Shouldn’t you get back to your wife?”

 _Oh_ , I thought, quick to reply: “No wife”, smiling awkwardly as I realized how eager this had sounded. “I am raising her alone.”

“Oh” he said, blinking in slight surprise and something else, something I hoped I could place as interest. 

He did agree to go with me, in the end, but only when I bought Kira the squirrel toy, and if he hadn’t before, I was pretty sure he had won my daughters heart with that statement. I _did_ buy it, despite my lack of funds, but only because I felt like they would not take it back with the tear stains all over it, and also I did not quite dare to _not_ buy it in front of Kento. At least Kira seemed happy afterwards, humming as she petted it, and well, she _did_ love squirrels after all, so maybe, this was the right apology for snapping at her earlier. 

And well, Daddy was also buying expensive Starbucks coffee to flirt with a cute boy, so the least I could do was to give her a toy to play with in the hours she would have to spend at the workshop while I worked overtime. 

I left Kira with Kento for a moment, and when I came back, she was practically pushing the squirrel into his face, and I wondered with a tight feeling in my chest if he was already regretting his decision to accept my invitation. 

But if Kento was annoyed, he did not let it on, and we quickly slipped into a deep conversation, with him making me accidentally tell him half of my life story and somehow still managing to make it feel comfortable instead of embarrassed. I found that it was incredibly easy to talk to Kento. He had a way of making me feel good about myself, something that didn’t happen very often. But maybe that was also his background, I figured, having studied sociology until a few months ago, and working in the Human Resources Department of a huge company, where such skills were essential. It seemed strangely easy for him to see through me and to respond just the right way to everything I said and did. Still I could not help but think that it was down to his personality more than to his education, because he was open-minded, sensitive and smart, and maybe, _hopefully,_ I was also a little bit special and we just got along that well.

Another thing about him was that I really liked the way he laughed. The giggles seemed to easily bubble up inside of him, and I found myself making more jokes than usual, trying to come up with all the silly things just to see more of it. 

Kira seemed to like him too, from what I could tell. Kento never showed any signs of becoming impatient with her, no matter how blatantly she interrupted our conversations to get his attention, and I really liked how he talked to and interacted with her. You could tell that he did not have much experience with kids (he had told me a little sheepishly that he was a single child and did not even have cousins), but he had a very gentle manner, and there was an obvious affection in his eyes whenever he looked at Kira. 

When I nervously asked him for his number, not really counting on him wanting to see me again despite the fun I had had in the last hour, I was surprised to find him smiling brightly and agreeing. As I met his eyes, losing myself for a moment in those big brown orbs, I realized that I had already fallen head over heels for this guy.

I could not stop talking about him even after we had parted, but thankfully, Kira was as fond of the topic as me, indulging in my little monologues. I let her tell me how Kento had found her and every little detail she could remember about him. 

I tried hard to not send him a message the same night, not wanting to seem too clingy, but I did only make it until Sunday morning before my restlessness got the best of me, and I asked if he wanted to meet up next weekend. 

His answer was a yes with three smileys, and it made me grin stupidly to myself for the rest of my work week, and my boss pester me, asking if something good had happened. It took all my willpower to _not_ coo to him about this great guy I had met like some infatuated middle school girl, to just smile and shrug cryptically no matter how much he prodded. 

I had a hard time deciding on where to invite Kento to, though. My budget was as tight as always, and there were not really many places we could go with the girl. 

I ended up asking him out to the park, knowing Kira would be busy enough there with other kids and possibly dogs running around, flowers and grass to pick and tons of things to distract her, but I still got up extra early that morning to prepare enough food and baking a few muffins, just for good measure, to ensure that she wouldn’t whine (and maybe to please Kento as well). 

I was almost as ridiculously excited as Kira when we left the house (too late, because Kira couldn’t decide which toys to take), fussing around with her hair in the train and ending up with last minute braids that made her giggle as I pulled them playfully.

Kento was already waiting when we arrived in the park, and he looked almost maddeningly gorgeous, with his tight pants, white T-Shirt and a vest, making me feel a little self conscious about my old shirt and shorts. 

Kento did not give me much opportunity to ponder over it, though, because he was in such a good mood that it was catching, laughing and messing around with Kira, making the cutest faces about the food I had brought, and all in all being so charming that I just wanted to tug him into my bag and take him home with me. 

I still found myself asking again and again if he was enjoying himself, unable to shrug off my insecurities until Kento started teasing me about them. 

I did not know how I ended up kissing him as it was time to say goodbye, to be honest. All I had wanted was to ask if we could repeat this, could meet up like this again, but then he had looked up at me with those beautiful warm eyes and I had lost all train of thoughts, leaning in to catch his lips with mine. 

It had been my first time to kiss someone since that fling with Kira’s mother back when I had been 16, and nothing about it could be compared to that time. I felt light-headed brushing my lips against his soft ones, my heart almost jumping out of my chest, and I wondered what it was about this guy that made me fall so helplessly for him. I had not even been aware that I liked boys, but with Kento, everything just seemed so intense and so ridiculously _easy_ , even though it was everything but and I was waiting all the time for me to make one wrong move which would turn him away from me again.

But he never did, not even when I pulled away and mumbled the most creepy of confessions. He only told me that he liked me, too, and though it was a little hard to take in because _how could such a perfect guy be interested in me, how?!_ , just like that, we found together. Too easily, but I had better things to do than doubt it, for example to pull him into another kiss that was only interrupted when Kira pushed in between us, huffing at being ignored. 

It was not as easy as Kento made it seem, though, to get this relationship rolling. Kento and I were different on so many levels that I didn’t know how to deal with it at first. 

First of all, there were our completely clashing lifestyles. He lived in this expensive Shibuya apartment while I lived in some too old building, sleeping in the living room on a futon because I had neither space nor money for a real bed (plus the futon was actually more comfortable than the too small couch), and the only available room was occupied by Kira. 

He was this well situated HR Assistant with a good education, and I was this simple mechanic that had dropped out of school. He had been living his single life to its fullest, going to the cinema with friends and to Karaoke after work with his colleagues. I hurried from work every day to pick up Kira from kindergarten, and spent the night cooking dinner and preparing her bento for the next day, doing laundry and occasionally sewing clothes she had managed to rip. 

I liked Kento, I really did, and I wanted this to work, but I was not sure how. I felt like I would bore him as soon as he really entered my life.

It made me keep a distance between us for a while, trying to only really meet on weekends and never at home, always thinking up halfway interesting locations to keep his mind occupied. 

I was totally unprepared when that one night, he stood at my workplace in a suit and loose tie, wearing designer glasses and looking so out of place in the old dusty workshop that I felt like hiding from him in my dirty jumper. 

“I came to pick you up” he told me, totally unfazed by all of this, and my boss positively pushed me through the backdoor to get dressed, whispering to me how I had managed to find such a good catch (seeming not at all surprised by me practically just coming out to him). 

Kento took my hand as we made our way over to the kindergarten, asking about my day and chatting pleasantly.

“I am sorry for turning up so suddenly” he said finally, smiling sheepishly as I met his eyes. “I wanted to see you, and… I thought you would find a reason to _not_ invite me to your place when I asked you.”

“... You noticed” I said with a sigh, and Kento pursed his lips. “I am sorry, really. It’s not that I don’t want you there, it’s just… My place is nothing nice to look at.”

“I don’t care about your place” Kento frowned, squeezing my hand. “I care about the people living there.”

It made me feel warm to hear those words, a warmth that had nothing to do with the summer weather, and Kento only swung our joint hands in a childish way that reminded me a little of my daughter, seeming content with the outcome of his plans. 

Kira was ecstatic when I turned up with Kento, almost jumping him and effectively taking up his attention for most of the evening by playing with him and “Kenty”, the squirrel. 

I tried not to pout over my boyfriend being stolen from me as I made dinner, instead marveling at the way he got along so well with my daughter, and how much he seemed to adore her instead of being annoyed by her clinginess.

Also, every now and then, he would send me one of those huge smiles, and I felt so pathetically lovestruck that it was hard to really be upset about anything. 

Kira was so hyper because of Kento’s presence, though, that she refused to go to bed while he was around, and I was pretty upset about having to send him home, but Kento did not seem to mind. He kissed me goodbye at the door and ensured me that we had all the time in the world to get used to this, that there was no need to rush, and I really wondered what I had done to deserve him. 

It took still a few more weeks until Kira was accustomed to having Kento around enough that she was actually ready to go to sleep without him leaving first (and maybe I had threatened her that he would stop coming over if she didn’t, but a father had to know which buttons to push). She made a big scene to get him to read her bedtime story, eagerly discussing for another one after he was done, and only when I poked my head in and shot her a firm look she gave up and hid under the blanket. 

I was so nervous to have Kento stay the night, though, that I was not quite sure what to do with him. I mean, sure, I knew what I _wanted_ to do with him, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t freaked out about it, because seriously, this was a new field for me as well. I had never slept with a guy before, not even with a girl ever since my teenage days, and after so long without intimate contact with _anyone_ , really, I was terrified of messing it up.

Kento was different, though - he seemed eager where I hesitated, and when I did not make a move to approach him by myself, he just pulled me in to silence my doubts with a kiss. 

From that point on, everything just seemed to flow, and I began to think that maybe, if I just stopped angsting all the time and left the lead Kento, my life would be a lot brighter and easier. 

When I woke up the next morning, my arms were still wrapped around his middle and he was laughing and fighting with what seemed to be like the furry tail of Kenty the squirrel, but I just held onto him tighter, smiling against the skin of his neck. 

Before I knew it, Kento had become part of our family life almost effortlessly. I kept finding reasons to doubt our relationship, to think that in the end, he would run for the hills because _how could he not?!_ , but in the end he would always ease me out of my insecurities with an easy smile and a gentle touch. 

I had no idea how I deserved him. He was perfect in every way - the perfect boyfriend, perfect step daddy, while I was full of imperfections and complications, but somehow, he did not seem to mind. 

I thought I understood a little of it when he took us to meet his parents. I could not remember ever having been this warmly welcomed _anywhere_ in my life, and as I watched Kento’s parents play with Kira, I could see everything I had been missing in my life in form of the Nakajima family: Acceptance, care, and love. 

When we were confronted with my family not long after, the contrast could have not been more obvious: My mother pulling my sister away from me as if the shame I carried was catching, and my father standing on my doorstep the same night, yelling at me to stay away from my siblings.

The worst part about it was how he talked about Kento, though. I was used to being treated like I was a disgrace from my parents, but Kento was the best thing that had happened to me in a long, long time, and I was not going to let my father trash him while he was in the next room, trying to distract Kira and listening in on every little thing we said. 

The relationship to my parents had never been the best, especially when it came to my father. It had become progressively more tensed the older I had gotten, but I had thought that it was normal. I had not been the easiest child either, and I had regarded them as usual fights between parents and children, and had always had the trust that if things became tough, my family would be the ones to catch me, anyways. 

That had been a miscalculation, I had found out when I had told them of my ex girlfriend’s pregnancy. I did not like to remember the events that had followed the news - every time I did, all I could hear were the derogative comments of my mother, the screaming of my father, and the tears of my siblings as I had left the house. I had found refuge at my grandmother’s place, who had stood in between the tables for a while, but even she had tried to make me reconsider my decision.

“You cannot care for a child, Fuma” she had told me. “You are still a child yourself, and if you really decide to take her in, you will hear no more of your parents. Is that really what you want?”

“Could you have given Mum away, had your parents requested it?” I had asked her, but had never received an answer.

My grandmother had died shortly after Kira’s birth, and with her, the last connection I had had to my real family. 

Kento found me long after my father had left that night, trying to keep my sobs down in the bathroom, and he did not asked any questions, just pulled me into his arms and held me. 

It was too much for me, the infinite acceptance from Kento’s side compared to the judgemental attitude from my parents. I was unable to wrap my mind around it.

“Why are you even with me?!” I demanded, voice no more than a whisper, out of energy from crying and feeling. “I mean, you need to take care of a child that isn’t yours. My whole life is messed up. You deserve better.”

It was the first time for me see something resembling anger flickering over Kento’s face. 

“Stop it right there!” he told me immediately. “I love Kira-Chan like she is my own, and I don’t mind this in the slightest. And whose life is always rainbows and butterflies?!”

“You heard what my father said earlier” I tried to insert, but he shook his head vehemently.

“Your father is a narrow-minded idiot. Sorry to say that, but it’s true. If he doesn’t see what a wonderful son he has, then it is his misfortune. I know that I have the best boyfriend.” 

I could not have stopped the tears even if I had tried. I had no idea what Kento saw when he looked at me, but to be loved so deeply by someone like him, when everyone else did their best to try to tell me how worthless I was… 

“I love you” he said, pulling me into his arms again. “I love you, and Kira-Chan, and so does my family. Screw yours, to be honest. You have me now. I am your family.”

And just like that, this is what he had become: My family. He had not left me another choice, and I was tired of doubting, anyways. So I did not fight him when he turned up with apartment listings from work, asking me to move in with him. The only thing I reminded him of was my financial situation, but he waved that part off before I could even start the discussion.

“You pay as much as you can, and I’ll pay the rest” he smiled. “I earn more than you, and no matter where we move, I will save money by moving out of my ridiculously high-priced apartment. So don’t worry about it.”

We soon found a nice apartment about 10 minutes from Kira’s kindergarten and my work place. Kento’s office was only one train ride away, and we had everything else we needed in walking distance, supermarket, convenience store, post office and bank. 

It was an okay-sized two bedroom apartment - nothing fancy, but to me, it was our castle. Kento brought most furniture from his apartment, and his parents sponsored us some as a moving in gift. The highlight was a four posters princess bed for Kira, which she refused to move out of for a couple of days, and a complete new three-piece suite for our living room. 

“Please allow us to spoil you a little” Kento’s mother smiled as soon as I expressed discomfort about accepting such expensive gifts. “Kento is our only son, and with his sexual orientation, we had already given up all hopes for grandchildren… Being able to help you out like this makes us happy, too!”

Life with Kento and Kira in our own apartment was a little like a dream. I expected to wake up from it any moment, but it never happened, so I tried my best to enjoy every day to its fullest. To not think about my real family and what they had put me through - instead, I tried to see myself through Kento’s eyes, tried to leave all doubts and bitter thoughts behind and just focus on being the best Daddy to Kira, and the best partner to Kento. 

I should have learned, though, that I could not run away from my past. It was easy, to let my new life envelope me until I did not think about my real family anymore, and I realized that this was what Kento had wanted me to do in the first place, but before I knew it, the voice of my siblings had already pulled my back to reality. Quite literally.

“Nii-Chan!” I froze when I heard the familiar voice of my sister, coming to such an abrupt halt that Mimu blinked at me from where she was sitting in the trolley, playing with a cat-shaped candy box Kento had agreed to buy her. 

I turned around slowly, heartbeat picking up as I spotted my by now 12-year-old brother Towa and my 8-year-old sister Mimu staring at me from the other side of the freezers. For a moment, I just stared back in almost a trance, before the two of them ran to approach me. Mimu got hold of my hip and hugged me close, and Towa fisted the sleeve of my jacket as if to not let me escape. 

“W-what are you doing here?” I stuttered, my hand shaking a little as I patted Mimu’s hair absentmindedly, only looking up when Towa answered.

“We are shopping with Mum. She got stuck talking to a neighbor in the fish section.”

“I see” I murmured, glancing around to make sure she was not around, only to spot Kento turn around a corner with some vegetables, slowing down when he spotted my siblings at my side. 

“... Is that…?” Towa murmured, following my gaze, and I gulped, trying to find the right thing to say, not sure how much my parents had told him.

“This is my friend Kento. We are living together” I said finally, but from Towa’s hesitant nod, I could tell that he knew exactly that he was more than a ‘friend’. “And this is your niece, Kira.”

He smiled as his eyes fell on her, waving, but Kira only clung to her candy box, looking at Kento inquisitively when he reached us, silently putting the vegetables into the trolley. He lifted her up into his arms with a smile when he was done.

I returned my eyes to Towa, noting how his fingers tightened on my sleeve just a tiny bit.

“How is home?” I asked quietly, because I couldn’t help myself. “Everything okay?”

Towa shrugged helplessly.

“Normal, I guess.”

“I miss you, Nii-Chan” Mimu murmured, squeezing her arms around my hip. “Can’t you come home with us?”

I gulped against the tight feeling in my throat, tenderly stroking her hair back. 

“Nii-Chan has his own apartment now” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “I’m already an adult, you know. I can’t come back home.”

“Can we visit you, then?” she asked, looking at me pleadingly, and I wanted nothing more than to invite them over, to return to being the loving older brother I had been before I had been forced to leave home, but I knew that my parents wouldn’t let me. 

This was the worst part about being shunned by my own family - not being allowed to see my siblings. 

“You know Mum won’t let us” Towa reminded her unhappily, before I even had a chance to answer. 

I sighed, trying my best to smile as I hugged Mimu loosely and patted Towa’s shoulder.

“You should go back to Mum, or she will be worried.” Towa looked miserable at that prospect, and Mimu pressed her face into my jacket in protest. When they still didn’t move I added, very quietly: “You know she shouldn’t be seeing you with me. She will get angry.”

Finally, Towa nodded, reaching out for Mimu’s wrist, and with some tugging, finally entangled her from me. 

“Bye, Nii-Chan” he murmured, waving as he pulled Mimu down the corridor, ignoring her whining protests. I stared after them until they disappeared behind the shelves, feeling like bursting into tears in the middle of the supermarket.

When I looked up, I saw Kento whispering something to Kira before setting her down, and with another nod at her questioning gaze, she ran down the corridor as well.

“Where is she going?” I asked in confusion. 

“Getting a bunch of bananas” Kento shrugged. “I forgot to get some.”

“Don’t let her go alone, she will get lost” I frowned.

“She won’t, give her some credit” Kento smiled. 

Indeed, Kira found her own way back to us, but without the bananas, and with one look into the trolley, I realized that Kento hadn’t even forgotten them in the first place. I kept from pointing it out, though, when I saw Kento lifting her up again and asked her to pick some fruit yoghurt. 

I had almost forgotten about that scene when a week later, after coming home from working overtime, Kento welcomed me in the corridor with a guilty smile. 

“Hey” he said quietly, and I frowned when I could hear loud voices of children from the living room.

“Does Kira have a visitor?” I asked in confusion, throwing a look at my clock. It was already past 7pm.

“No, you do” Kento admitted, biting his lips. “Mimu-Chan and Towa-Kun are here.”

I gaped at him, almost stumbling over my own two feet at the attempt to get out of my shoes, and Kento sighed.

“I sent Kira after them to slip them my business card that day in the supermarket, and asked her to tell them to call and come over whenever they needed you.”

“You did _what_?!” I asked incredulous.

“They had a fight with your mother, and refused to go home!” Kento murmured. “Should I have left them out on the streets?!” 

“Do you know how furious my parents will be if they find them here?!” I returned anxiously. “Why did you not make them go home?!”

“Because they wanted to see you” Kento sighed. “That’s also what they fought about with your mother, I think.”

I had no ready answer to that, but I was given no chance to speak, anyways, because Mimu had already turned up around the corner and was now pushing past Kento to tackle me in a hug. 

“Nii-Chan!” she whined, her hands knotting in my shirt. “Kira said I can sleep in her bed. Can I stay?!”

Kento threw me a look of “Told you so”, and I sighed as I stroked through her hair lovingly, trying to think through the whirlwind of emotions inside of me. 

“Daddy!” Kira called, turning around the corner with Towa tugging behind her, looking a strange cross between guilty and stubborn that reminded me stunningly of myself. “Towa showed me how to write my name in Kanji!”

“That’s great, hun” I said absentmindedly, trying to catch Towa’s gaze as he religiously studied our floor tiles. Before Kira could say anything more, though, Kento intervened, luring her and Mimu into the kitchen with the promise of ice cream, leaving me and Towa alone in the corridor.

“Why are you here, Towa?” I demanded finally, my voice pained. “You know better than to worry Mum like this.”

“That’s rich, coming from you” he murmured, and I made a face. 

“I’m different” I reminded him. “I was in an extreme situation, and Mum and Dad didn’t want to see my side. That’s why I left.”

“Mum doesn’t want to see my side, either!” Towa protested loudly. “She doesn’t care at all about what Mimu and I want, and I hate it!”

“Is this about me?” I sighed. “You know Mum has her reasons why she doesn’t want you to meet me.”

“Because you didn’t quietly do whatever they say?!”

“Because I chose a life they can’t approve of. And they don’t want my influence on you.”

“Well, I don’t care what they want. I’m not going back.”

I sighed deeply, regarding Towa for a moment. I had not really seen him since I had left home, and he had been this shy little boy back then. Now, he reminded me a lot of myself in his age, stubborn and acting tough, the kind of teenager that would not shy away from a fight when he felt wronged and that would go to all lengths to get what he wanted. 

And I was sure that my parents saw these parallels, too. I could see, in a way, why they wanted to keep him away from me. What kind of parents wanted their little boy to look up to the big brother that ran away from home?

“Towa” I said finally, taking slow steps to approach him. He had grown a lot, and I was sure that soon, he would reach up to my shoulder. “I know that you are angry, and that you don’t want Mum to make decisions that should be yours. And I get that, I really do. But running away is not the right way.”

“You ran away” Towa accused me with a glare.

“Yes and no” I shrugged. “I ran because I was not strong enough to make them see my side, in a way, but when you grow older, maybe you will understand that bending to their will in this case would have been like running away, too.”

“I don’t understand” Towa frowned. 

“At the moment, the center of your life is your family, and maybe school” I tried to explain. “But when you grow older, you will find that your responsibilities lie elsewhere, too. Friends. Lovers. And someday, maybe your own little family. In this case, I had to decide, and I chose my daughter. But if I learned anything from that, it’s that the feelings of a parent are special. So maybe you can keep that in mind, and try to talk to Mum again.”

“But you are not talking to her, either” Towa said quietly. “If the feelings of a parent are so special, that should apply to you, too.”

“You are not wrong with that” I murmured, mainly because that question had haunted me for years, and I still had no ready answer to that. 

There was a short silence between us, in which all that we could hear were loud shouts from Mimu and Kira from the kitchen, and Kento’s laughter. Finally, and with some difficulty, my heart racing at the mere thought of what I was going to suggest, I asked: “If I go with you and promise to talk to Mum as well, will you let me bring you home?”

Towa seemed shocked as he caught my eyes.

“You are going to come back?!” he whispered.

“Maybe not come back” I sighed. “But I can try to make a step towards them. If not for me, then for you and Mimu.”

Instead of answering to that, Towa pulled me into a hug, and for a 12 year old boy, that meant more than all the words in the universe could express.

***

Kento offered to come along, offered to explain to my parents because it had partly been his fault for giving Towa and Mimu his number in the first place, but I told him to stay home with Kira.

“This is something I have to do by myself” I said, knowing just how true it was. 

Towa had been right, in a way. I had run from my family until now, and months ago, I would have never agreed to going to see them, my pride not allowing such a gesture of weakness. But maybe, I had just been afraid. But Kento had taken that fear away from me, and had made me stronger than I had ever been before. 

If I did not face my parents now, I never would. 

So Towa, Mimu and I took the train towards the part of the city I had grown up in, and the journey into the past felt as unsettling as it was nostalgic. It had been years since I had been in this neighborhood, but somehow, time seemed to have stopped here. Everything was still the same, from the flowers in the garden of my mother to the cat watching from the entrance door of the house across the street. 

Mum must have already seen us approach from a window, because when we made our way to the door, she already threw it open, looking positively livid. 

“Towa! Mimu! _Fuma_!! What in the name of god are these two with you?!”

“Before you start shouting” I said quickly, holding up my hands in a defensive gesture. “I did not kidnap them or lure them to me in any way. They were at my apartment when I came home from work. They searched for shelter after their fight with you, and now I’m bringing them home.”

“How did you even know where he lives?!” she called, almost entirely ignoring my input, instead glaring at Towa and Mimu. “Your father drove all the way to his old apartment and it was abandoned! So how did you-”

“Kento-nii-chan gave us his number” Mimu said quietly, and I could see the fire in my mother’s eyes before she had even finished her sentence.

“ _Kento-nii-chan?!_ ” 

“Don’t you dare flare up at Kento!” I said quickly. “It’s not his fault. He just wanted to help.”

“By meddling with our family and inviting my children over to his house?!” she demanded, finally looking at me. “He had no right to-”

“Maybe he didn’t” I agreed. “But he knew that I was missing them, and when he learned that Towa and Mimu wanted to see me, he thought he was doing the right thing. He did it out of love, so don’t you dare blame him.”

“ _Love_ ” she scoffed. “Your definitions of love are nothing but twisted, and it’s starting to rub off on your siblings! Are you happy now?!”

Towa was about to shout back, but I quickly put a hand onto his shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. 

“I’m a father, too” I reminded her, and her eyes narrowed. “I may understand you better now than ever, and I am here because I think it is time for us to talk. For Towa and Mimu, so they don’t have to grow up choosing a side between their brother and their parents, and for Kira, who will one day ask about her real grandparents. And I don’t want to have to tell her that her grandparents don’t care about what happens to her, just like her mother.”

Something inside my mother’s eyes changed then, and she fell silent, staring at me. It was only then, that I spotted my father behind her in the shadows, his face unreadable. 

“Towa, Mimu, up to your rooms” he said finally, sounding tired. “Your brother wants to talk.”

They hesitated, and Towa looked up at me, but with a reassuring smile, they finally pushed past my parents and disappeared upstairs. My mother stepped aside, quietly allowing me entrance. 

Stepping into my parent’s house felt so familiar that it pressed as heavily against my chest like a weight threatening to crush me, but I took deep, even breaths as I made my way towards the living room, taking a seat on the couch. I remembered sick days with my mother fussing over me while I was watching TV for a weirdly intense moment. 

“This is the first time you asked us to talk” My father noted, unusually calm. “You avoided all discussions since you were fourteen.”

“Because I hated not to be treated on eye level” I noted quietly, catching his gaze. 

“You never behaved maturely enough to deserve it” Mum shot back.

“Maybe I didn’t” I admitted. “But I grew up, if you realize it or not. So maybe we can give that another try.”

“Fine” My father nodded, leaning against the dining table across the room, apparently too restless to sit. “What do you want?”

“I want to be allowed to see Towa and Mimu” I said simply. 

“No” Mum said immediately.

“Why?” I demanded.

“Because one meet up with your inappropriate life partner already made them run away from home” she pointed out. “There is no saying what else you would teach them if you met regularly.”

Every cell inside of me urged me to shout, to demand for them to not only treat Kento with more respect but also for them to finally see the side of their kids instead of only their own. Instead, I took a deep breath and pictured Kento in front of my inner eyes. Kento, who had so much love inside of him and who had shown me that there was always a way if you tried. 

“The two of them did not run because Kento or me asked them to” I pointed out. “They ran because you would not listen to their wishes, which, by the way, was exactly why I ran, too.”

“You never listened to anything we told you, Fuma” Dad said simply. “Every opinion we had was wrong, in your eyes. It was maddening.”

“Well, seems like I am your son, after all” I said weakly.

There was a short silence, and it took a moment for me to find my voice again.

“I know I was a difficult child” I admitted. “And maybe I should have listened to you more. But I wanted to be listened to as well, and you never did. Not when I told you I wanted to learn guitar. Not when I swore to you that I hadn’t cheated in that exam, that I had really been framed. And not when I told you that I wanted to be there for my child, either. Not once.”

“You know why we did not want you to become a father” Mum injected. “ _Look_ at yourself now! You are a mechanic with a salary that’s barely enough to live on! And now you are living with another man in family circumstances that will bring your child trouble when she grows up! You could have made more out of your life! We wanted you to archive something!”

“You may not understand how I live my life” I returned, trying hard to tune down the bitterness. “But I am _happy_. I have a daughter and a partner that I love, and that love me back. And that’s worth more to me than all the money and success in the world.” When they were silent at that, I noted quietly. “What about you? Can you say that everything in your life is perfect, with you having no contact to your first born and your grandchild whatsoever? Are you _happy_?”

“Of course not” My mother said immediately. “There are a lot of things we wished would have gone differently.”

“See?” I nodded. “We may all have made mistakes, and we can’t unmake them, but can’t we try to make a step towards each other now?”

“You talk like it’s so easy” Dad sighed. “But our differences are still in the room. I don’t believe in your relationship, for once.”

“That’s the thing, though” I sighed. “Even if you can’t understand it, can’t you accept that this is what I want? I am no child anymore.”

“It’s hard to accept that your son cares so little about your own values” he admitted. 

“I can see why it is” I nodded. “But don’t you want your children to be happy? Isn’t that what the love of a parent should be about?”

“We always wanted you to be happy” My mother sighed. “But you didn’t want our help.”

“That’s not true, I wanted your support” I argued. “But I did not want you to dictate my life. I wanted you to be there on the way I chose.”

“But we did not approve of your way, and you did not want to bend.”

“I’m not as inflexible as I have been. After all, I am here.”

“That you are” My father nodded.

“So maybe if I can bend a little, so can you?”

There was another moment of silence, and suddenly I wished that Kento was here. Somehow, Kento always seemed to know the right thing to say. He was so much better with words than me.

“Kira” Dad said finally, making me blink. “What school do you want to send her to?”

“I… don’t know yet” I said, a little stunned. “She is three, there is still some time.”

“How are you going to pay her education?” he continued prodding. “What are you going to do when she wants to go to university? Where will you take the money from?”

“I don’t know yet!” I returned, sharper than I had intended to, immediately defensive. “I will figure something out. I don’t plan on doing such low-paid work my whole life.”

“Then what are you planning to do?” he asked, scanning my face, and there was something in his expression that made me take a deep breath and answer calmly. 

“I haven’t talked to Kento about this yet” I murmured. “But my boss offered me to support me in getting a secondary education in the automotive field should I be willing to take evening courses to finish high school. I have been thinking about taking him up on it, but I will need Kento’s support.”

I felt both of their eyes on me, and it made me feel embarrassed, somehow. My parents were both college graduates and I knew that both of them looked down on my job. My plans were nothing to impress them. So I was even more surprised when my mother murmured: “You really grew up, didn’t you?” 

I looked at her in surprise, and she sighed, admitting, almost grudgingly: “You never used to think farther than tomorrow. It’s nice to see you considering your future seriously.” There was a short eye contact between my parents, and I was not sure what they were communicating with it, but my father finally got up and made his way over to the cupboard across the room, searching for something. When he came back, he pressed a little book into my hand.

With a start, I realized that it was the checkbook to a bank account. The name written on it was “Kikuchi Kira”. 

“This is the money we had saved up for your university fees, and some more” Dad shrugged. “She won’t be able to access it until she is 20, though. It is run by us until then.”

I only stared at it dumbly, not believing my eyes and ears. 

“We may not agree with your way of living” Mum said stiffly. “But we never abandoned you completely.”

It was like finding a long lost puzzle piece, and I had to gulp hard to keep my emotions in check. 

“Thank you” I murmured, my voice rough. 

“If we allow you to see Towa and Mimu, we don’t want you to encourage them to things we wouldn’t approve of” My father noted. “We are not going to interfere neither with Kira, nor with your boyfriend, and you won’t influence them in any way, either. Can we agree on that?”

“That sounds like a compromise” I nodded, smiling slightly. 

“Good” Dad sighed, sounding tired. “Then go tell your brother and sister that there is no need to run away anymore.”

I chuckled, surprised to see my father smile back at me in return. 

***

When I arrived at home, Kira was already fast asleep in her room, and Kento had obviously tried to keep himself awake with the TV, but at some point, had just nodded off with the head against the armrest and some stupid night drama blaring quietly in the background. 

I smiled as I leaned in to gently disentangle his fingers from the remote, waking him with the touch. When I had turned off the TV, he was blinking up at me sleepily.

“You are back” he said quietly, and I smiled, automatically reaching out to stroke his messy hair out of his face in a gentle gesture. “So, they did not kill you.”

“Nope” I chuckled, pressing my lips to his forehead affectionately. “In the contrary. Mimu and Towa will go to the zoo with us next Sunday.” 

Kento blinked as if deciding if I was kidding, and I held out a hand, helping him to his feet. 

“B-but” Kento murmured, seeming utterly too sleep deprived for this kind of development. “How did you-”

“Let’s say someone gave me strength to face my past by changing my present” I said airily, grinning when Kento was still blinking in confusion. 

“Huh?” he just asked, making me laugh. 

“I will explain tomorrow, when you are more awake” I teased, leaning in to kiss any protests off his lips. Kento melted into me, pliant to my touch, and I realized once more that, even though my parents might not understand my way of living and maybe never would, just with the love and security he gave me, I could go everywhere I wanted. 

But instead of telling him just that, I only kissed him deeper, leaving the words for a time when his mind could process them, and instead just showing him with actions. 

***

“Are they here yet?!” Kira whined, hugging Kenty The Squirrel to her chest with an impressive pout. Kento The Human patted her head with a fond smile, but I could see him fumbling nervously with his jacket. 

“Are you sure I should be here when your Mum turns up?” he asked finally, for the third time today, his voice subdued. 

“Stop worrying!” I chuckled. “They said they won’t intervene when it comes to you, and I am not going to hide you!”

“But they still aren’t thrilled by our relationship” he reminded me softly. “So maybe we shouldn’t provoke them… I mean, I could just-“

Instead of letting him finish his suggestion, I cupped his cheek and pulled him into a soft kiss. Kento froze, but I didn’t let it discourage me, just searched for his hand and entwined our fingers as I kept kissing him. I squeezed his hand and Kento relaxed at my touch, soft puffs of his breath falling into my lips as I kept the kiss going. 

“There they are!!” Kira called, making Kento jerk away from me, cheeks flushed. I couldn’t help but smile sheepishly as I spotted my mother approaching us, her expression pointedly neutral.

“Nii-Chan! Kira-Chan!” Mimu called, running towards us in excitement, and Kira bounced up and down with a wide smile that probably resembled the one on my face a little. Towa was waving, and rose his hand to high five Kento in a manner of greeting when he had finally reached us. 

I could tell that Kento was nervous when he greeted my mother, but soon Kira and Mimu engaged him in their excitement, and I could see her smiling at the three of them in amusement. 

“I’m gonna make sure to bring them home in time” I told her finally, making her look up at me again. 

“Okay” she nodded. “I gave Towa some money for food and tickets, you don’t need to pay everything.” I was about to protest, but Mum had already set her eyes back on Kira, watching her with a soft expression on her face. “She is gorgeous, by the way” she said at last, her voice very quiet. “And lively. I guess you’re not that bad of a father, after all.”

My heart skipped a beat at that, but before I could return anything, she smiled and patted my shoulder. 

“Have fun, all of you!” she said loudly, waving at my siblings, and it was all I could do to stare after her incredulous as she took off. 

“Fuma?” Kento asked, scanning my face. “Everything alright?”

“Yes” I said quickly, and the smile I flashed him was real. “Come on, let’s go!”


End file.
